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{{short description|Obsolete Royal Navy rank}}
{{for|the [[Patrick O'Brian]] novel|Post Captain (novel)}}▼
{{Use British English|date=December 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{One reference|date=December 2024}}
[[File:Royal Navy Post Captain.jpg|thumb|A 1807 depiction of a post-captain.]]
{{Navalranks}}
'''Post-captain''' or '''post captain''' is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of [[Captain (Royal Navy)|captain]] in the [[Royal Navy]].
The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:
* Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain regardless of rank;
* [[Commander (Royal Navy)|Commander]]s, who received the title of captain as a courtesy, whether they currently had a command or not (e.g. the fictional Captain Jack Aubrey in ''[[Aubrey-Maturin series#Master and Commander|Master and Commander]]'' or the fictional Captain [[Horatio Hornblower]] in ''[[Hornblower and the Hotspur]]'')
In the Royal Navy of the 18th and 19th centuries, an officer might be promoted from commander to captain, but not have a command. Until the officer obtained a command, he was "on the beach" and on [[half-pay]]. An officer "took post" or was "made post" when he was first commissioned to command a vessel. Usually this was a [[rating system of the Royal Navy|rated vessel]] – that is, a ship too important to be commanded by a mere commander – but was occasionally an unrated one. Once a captain was given a command, his name was "posted" in ''[[The London Gazette]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/documents/0609FamilyHistory|title=The London Gazette – Treasure Trove of Historical Information|publisher=[[London Gazette]]|access-date=2011-05-30}}</ref> Being "made post" is portrayed as the most crucial event in an officer's career in both Forester's [[Horatio Hornblower]] series and O'Brian's [[Aubrey-Maturin series]]. Once an officer was promoted to post-captain, further promotion was strictly by seniority If he could avoid death or disgrace, he could eventually become an [[admiral]] (even if only a [[yellow admiral (United Kingdom)|yellow admiral]]).
A junior post-captain would usually command a [[frigate]] or a comparable ship, while more senior post-captains would command larger ships. An exception to this rule was that a very junior post-captain could be posted to command an admiral's flagship, which was almost always a large [[ship of the line]]. The admiral would usually do this to keep his most junior captain under close observation
Sometimes
After 1795, when they were first introduced on Royal Navy uniforms, the number and position of [[epaulette]]s distinguished between commanders and post-captains of various seniorities.
▲A junior post-captain would usually command a [[frigate]] or a comparable ship, while more senior post-captains would command larger ships. An exception to this rule was that a very junior post-captain could be posted to command an admiral's flagship, which was almost always a large [[ship of the line]]. The admiral would usually do this to keep his most junior captain under close observation, and subject to his direct supervision. Junior captains commanding an admiral's flagship were usually called "[[flag captain]]s". One example of an admiral appointing a junior post-captain to command his flagship in this way is the appointment of [[Alexander Hood (Royal Navy officer)|Alexander Hood]] to the command of [[HMS Barfleur (1768)|HMS ''Barfleur'']], flagship of his brother, Admiral [[Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood|Sir Samuel Hood]].
▲Sometimes, a high-ranking admiral would have two post-captains on his flagship. The junior of the two would serve as the [[flag captain]] and retain responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the vessel. The senior of the two would be the [[fleet captain]], or "[[captain of the fleet]]", and would serve as the admiral's chief-of-staff. These two captains would be listed in the ship's roll as the "second captain" and "first captain", respectively.
▲After 1795, when they were first introduced on Royal Navy uniforms, the number and position of [[epaulette]]s distinguished between commanders and post-captains of various seniorities. A commander wore a single epaulette on the left shoulder. A post-captain with less than three years seniority wore a single epaulette on the right shoulder, and a post-captain with three or more years seniority wore an epaulette on each shoulder. (National Maritime Museum Uniform Collection, see below.) In the O'Brian series, Aubrey "wets the swab" -- that is, he celebrates his promotion to commander and the acquisition of his "swab" or epaulette with the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol.
▲Note that the term was descriptive only: no-one was ever styled "Post-Captain John Smith".
==See also==
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==External links==
* [http://www.
[[Category:Royal Navy appointments]]
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